On Monday Apr 14 Gerrit spent some time researching electricity-producing solar panels (photovoltaics) and talking with a vendor about them. It is quite feasible for us, they could be easily installed on our flat roof which has continuous sun exposure. We would include a battery for power during dark periods and grid power failure. We would only resort to the grid part time during the winter, and it might be possible the rest of the time sell any excess power we generate to the local utility. We would be totally self-sufficient much of the year. The time to payback for the initial investment is about six years for a system big enough to provide all our electricity needs (including heating, A/C, and a pool heat pump) almost all the time. We've both secretly longed to be off the grid someday, and this would pretty much do it. We already have independent well water and septic.
We forgot to mention a scene of typical Portuguese kindness from a Braga café we visited in the last post. Gerrit had joined a group at the cash register to pay his bill. A few people were waiting there for the clerk to refill the cash in the register. When he was done a woman ahead of Gerrit stepped up to pay. But a young man behind him tapped her shoulder and gestured to Gerrit, holding his cane and sporting his grey hair. She hadn't noticed him there, and she immediately waved him ahead with a smile. When you receive such kindness it fills your heart and makes you want to pay it forward.
And in the home repairs department: a small leak in a skylight has become large, causing a steady drip of water into a bathroom over the past few rainy days. We knew about this from our home inspection, but figured we could put it off until summer. No such luck. We got a tarp and 28 bricks to hold it down in the wind, and Gerrit hauled them up to the roof to cover the skylight until we can actually fix it. Fortunately he dodged the showers and stayed dry. It looks kind of like a low-budget trailer park up there for now; good thing it's invisible on the roof.
On Saturday Apr 19 Gerrit's son Ian and family arrived for a few days. It was fun seeing them all and having the house filled with the noise and chaos of young grandkids. Gerrit made a Portuguese-ish dish similar to the pork chunks and clams which is a traditional Portuguese favorite. He used the same spices and seasonings, but made a stew out of it. The next day (Easter) was drizzly but we all went shopping and to a playground, where Liberty tried out her new rollerblades. Afterwards Orson wanted some oranges from a tree along the sidewalk so Gerrit put his cane to good use and snagged a few for him. We went to Braga the next day for an Ikea expedition, and to Porto on Tuesday after the weather had cleared up nicely. In Porto we browsed around the big colorful Bolhão market, and the youngsters then headed for the Douro river for a boat tour. They left on Wednesday after we all had a nice Portuguese lunch at a local tavern.
The Portuguese take Easter seriously. The week leading up to it is called Semana Santa (Holy Week or Week of the Saints), and there are celebrations, church services, and concerts on each day. Then on Easter Sunday it is a total blowout. Fireworks and church bells start going off at 7 AM, and all day and night you can hear them echoing across the surrounding countryside.
We have a Brazilian
ipê tree in the back yard. It is the national flower of Brazil, and has a beautifully scented yellow trumpet-shaped bloom. The former owners here told us it was one of only six saplings of this tree in all of Portugal, and we'll take their word for it. We plan to start charging admission to our back yard. The blossoms have been blossoming, and with the warmer weather the scent should be coming on. To check this out, Pat said "I'm going to go sniff an ipê", which is not something Gerrit hears every day. The scent still needs to develop, so he is liable to hear it for a while.
There is a bit more cigarette smoking here than in the US. Smoking is not allowed indoors that we have seen, so it amounts to about the same societal effect. You can buy cigarettes in the same type of places here as in the US, but here there are gruesome photographs and blunt warnings on every pack making clear the dangers of smoking. Here is a picture of a rack of cigarette packs in a typical supermarket.
(As usual, you can click on any photo to enlarge it, scroll through them all, and click outside a photo when you're done. Also, you can click on the bold underlined phrases to play the audio.)
